Following an embarrassing segment Tuesday on his show CNN Tonight that deemed Kanye West to be a mentally ill “attention whore” representing “what happens when negroes don’t read,” Don Lemon appeared on Thursday’s The Situation Room and again showed an insensitivity to mental illness, diagnosing West as a disturbed captive putting on “a minstrel show him in front of all these white people” at the White House.
Lemon failed to notice the irony as he stayed in the gutter, suggesting that Kayne’s mother was “rolling in her grave” at her son’s behavior, that he “needs a hug,” and that the press should stop talking about him. Of course, this took place in a nine-minute-and-36-second segment on....Kanye.
When host Wolf Blitzer gave Lemon the floor, the so-called CNN anchor claimed that he has “no animosity for Kanye West” and that he’ll “be honest” even though “I may get in a lot of trouble for it.”
Lemon opined that he “actually feel[s] bad for him” because “[w]hat saw was a minstrel show him in front of all these white people — most white people — embarrassing himself and embarrassing Americans, but mostly African Americans because every one of them is sitting either at home or with their phones, watching this, cringing.”
Lemon explained that he “couldn’t even watch it” because it was “so hard” watching President Trump “exploiting someone who needs help, who needs to back away from the cameras, who needs to get off stage, who needs to deal with his issues and if anyone around him cares about him...they need to grab him, snatch him up and get Kanye together because Kanye needs help.”
The bloviating CNNer continued by longing for the days of the Obama administration when more desirable celebrities like Common graced the White House (click “expand”):
And this has nothing to do with being liberal or a conservative. This has to do with honesty and we have to stop pretending, sitting here on these CNN panels or whatever network panels, and pretending like this is normal and let's have this conversation about Kanye West. Who cares? Why are you sending cameras to the Oval Office for Kanye West? Did you send cameras to the Oval Office and carry it live when Common visited the White House? Common visited the White House and did a beautiful poem, spoken word, talked about how black people are kings and queens, how we need to rise up and do better. He didn't disparage anybody. He didn't speak in non-sequiturs. He didn’t do anything awful and, you know, the only people who criticized him, the only people who really covered it were Sean Hannity and his band of hypocrites who are now — who are now applauding Kanye West, the same people that many in that group called the n-word because of Taylor Swift and because of George Bush and now all of a sudden, he is the person who represents the African-American community? He doesn't.
The hypocrisy was stunning as Lemon demanded “[w]e...take the cameras away from Kanye and from a lot of this craziness that happens in the White House” while, based on conversations with a friend of the rapper’s late mother, she’s “rolling over in her grave” and would be both “embarrassed” and “terribly disturbed.” He also threw in the low blow that he’s “not been the same since his mother died.”
Blitzer tried to interject, but Lemon kept plowing along, including a nonsensical take about how we shouldn’t discuss hydrogen as an alternative energy because of the Hindenburg (click “expand”):
LEMON: He needs someone to help him and to guide him and he needs a hug more than anything. Kanye, back away from the cameras. Go get some help and then come back and make your case. Nobody — if you want to be conservative, if you want to support Donald Trump, that is your business. But as you're doing it, have some sense with it. Make sense. Educate yourself.
BLITZER: You know, Don, we just played a one-minute clip of that exchange but it really went on for more than half an hour, if you watch the whole —
LEMON: Talking about hydrogen — the last time we really talked about hydrogen, seriously? Oh, do you remember that, the Hindenburg. So Kanye, come on, man. Stop embarrassing yourself. It's not even that. We're doing it because everyone wants to watch him. We're watching someone's demise in front of our eyes and the President as well. The office is sacred. Can you imagine if President Barack Obama had Kanye West or any rapper or any person entertainer in the Oval Office who said M.F., can you imagine — everybody's heads would be exploding. Not just over at Fox News, not just the conservatives. Everybody's heads would be exploding saying: “What's happening?” And this is not the first time that Donald Trump has denigrated that office. He brought Ted Nugent in who said some very disparaging things about the former President and you — Google it and you'll see, had him there in the Oval Office. So this is not the first time that he's had someone that denigrates that office that didn't live up to the respect of that office in there and today was another example of — he is disrespecting the Oval Office more than Kanye did because he invited Kanye in and exploited it.
Chief political analyst Gloria Borger and The Washington Post’s David Swerdlick did nothing more than assert awe toward Lemon’s unglued tirades.
Lemon even asserted at one point that he’s “sorry to hog this panel, but this has gotten me,” which is that celebrities like Kanye and wife Kim Kardashian shouldn’t be given attention, while seeing no issue with other celebrities (read: liberal ones) continuing to be recognized.
Again having no self-realization, Lemon demanded the press focus on missing Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi and those affected by Hurricane Michael while continuing to rant on and on about Kanye.
“We're going to focus on that right now, guys. Thank you very much. Don Lemon telling us how he really feels,” Blitzer gushed in his conclusion.
To see the relevant transcript from CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer on October 11, click “expand.”
CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer
October 11, 2018
6:39 p.m. Eastern
DON LEMON: I — Wolf, listen, I have no animosity for Kanye West. I'm just going to be honest and I may get in a lot of trouble for it. I feel — I actually feel bad for him. What I saw was a minstrel show him in front of all these white people — most white people — embarrassing himself and embarrassing Americans, but mostly African Americans because every one of them is sitting either at home or with their phones, watching this, cringing. I couldn't even watch it. I had to turn the television off because it was so hard to watch. Him sitting there, being used by the President of the United States. The President of the United States exploiting him and expl — I don't mean this in a disparaging way -- exploiting someone who needs help, who needs to back away from the cameras, who needs to get off stage, who needs to deal with his issues and if anyone around him cares about him, the family that he mentioned today or whomever, his managers, maybe some other people who are in the music business who know him, they need to grab him, snatch him up and get Kanye together because Kanye needs help. And this has nothing to do with being liberal or a conservative. This has to do with honesty and we have to stop pretending, sitting here on these CNN panels or whatever network panels, and pretending like this is normal and let's have this conversation about Kanye West. Who cares? Why are you sending cameras to the Oval Office for Kanye West? Did you send cameras to the Oval Office and carry it live when Common visited the White House? Common visited the White House and did a beautiful poem, spoken word, talked about how black people are kings and queens, how we need to rise up and do better. He didn't disparage anybody. He didn't speak in non-sequiturs. He didn’t do anything awful and, you know, the only people who criticized him, the only people who really covered it were Sean Hannity and his band of hypocrites who are now — who are now applauding Kanye West, the same people that many in that group called the n-word because of Taylor Swift and because of George Bush and now all of a sudden, he is the person who represents the African-American community? He doesn't. We need to take the cameras away from Kanye and from a lot of this craziness that happens in the White House because it is not normal and we need to stop sitting here pretending that it's normal. This was an embarrassment. Kanye’s mother is rolling over in her grave. I spoke to one of her friends today or texted with one of her friends today from Chicago. Donda’s friends. I used to live there. I know him. She said Donda would be — would be embarrassed by this. She would be terribly disturbed by this and Kanye has not been the same since his mother died. He kept talking today about oh, “I put the hat on and the hat made me feel strong and wearing a cape.” He needs a father figure. He needs someone to help him and to guide him and he needs a hug more than anything. Kanye, back away from the cameras. Go get some help and then come back and make your case. Nobody — if you want to be conservative, if you want to support Donald Trump, that is your business. But as you're doing it, have some sense with it. Make sense. Educate yourself.
BLITZER: You know, Don, we just played a one-minute clip of that exchange but it really went on for more than half an hour, if you watch the whole —
LEMON: Talking about hydrogen — the last time we really talked about hydrogen, seriously? Oh, do you remember that, the Hindenburg. So Kanye, come on, man. Stop embarrassing yourself. It's not even that. We're doing it because everyone wants to watch him. We're watching someone's demise in front of our eyes and the President as well. The office is sacred. Can you imagine if President Barack Obama had Kanye West or any rapper or any person entertainer in the Oval Office who said M.F., can you imagine — everybody's heads would be exploding. Not just over at Fox News, not just the conservatives. Everybody's heads would be exploding saying: “What's happening?” And this is not the first time that Donald Trump has denigrated that office. He brought Ted Nugent in who said some very disparaging things about the former President and you — Google it and you'll see, had him there in the Oval Office. So this is not the first time that he's had someone that denigrates that office that didn't live up to the respect of that office in there and today was another example of — he is disrespecting the Oval Office more than Kanye did because he invited Kanye in and exploited it.
BLITZER: Alright, so, David Swerdlick, what did you think?
DAVID SWERDLICK: Okay, so I think Don is onto something, Wolf, and I just want to focus on one little piece of what Don said cause there is one data point I want to drill down on and that is this. Look, don said if Kanye West wants to be conservative, he can be. There is absolutely a robust discussion being had, has been had, will continue to be had in the African-American community about political ideology. There is not a monolith in the black community. But a lot of what you hear Kanye West saying today and what he has said recently is about critiquing President Obama. I want to point to one number because this is always pointed to by Kanye and others around him, about black unemployment. The unemployment rate for African Americans went down from 7.8 to 6 percent under Trump. That's good. Trump should brag about that. But under President Obama, the only African-American President, it went from 12.7 to 7.8, almost a 5 percentage point drop. So, if there is a discussion to be had about what Republicans or Democrats or African Americans or white politicians are doing for black people, let's have it, but let's not have it on the basis of bogus information.
BLITZER: Gloria?
BORGER: Well, I want to add to something that Don said and agree with him about the president using, using Kanye. He thinks the — the President thinks he's boosting his popularity with African Americans. We haven't seen that and he thinks he's good for him, but he sat there and smiled the entire time. He was clearly uncomfortable. But when Kanye dropped the f-bomb and all the rest, he didn't do anything about it. He didn't say, stop, this is the Oval Office. We don't do that in the oval office. And this also happened on a day when you had thousands of people — thousands of people losing their homes in Florida.
LEMON: Thank you, Gloria. Thank you, Gloria.
BORGER: — in Florida, and instead the President is sitting and meeting with Kanye West because it makes him look good. I know they're supposed to discuss criminal justice reform, et cetera, et cetera, but it was like watching a train wreck because it was, and the President just sat there. I remember when presidents used to say, you know what, you need to put on your jacket to go into the Oval Office.
SWERDLICK: Andy Card used to say that.
BORGER: Right. Exactly and so —
LEMON: Let me jump in here. I'm sorry to hog this panel, but this has gotten me. So, we need to stop putting people like Kanye West and Kim Kardashian and again — I have no shade to Kim Kardashian. Kim Kardashian helped to get one person free. This is not comprehensive overhaul of the criminal justice system. This President loves celebrities and so that helped. But Kim Kardashian brought no experts in that I know of. No one who knows about criminal justice reform, no one who can overhaul the system, nothing. She sat there, she — another celebrity with another celebrity at another time, former administration, we would have criticized this and said that he was disparaging the office. So let's not pretend. We should stop putting Kanye West and Kim Kardashian on the same plane as Jamal Khashoggi who deserves more coverage today than Kanye West and the people who are down in Florida and in the Panhandle who are dealing with a devastating storm. We should be focusing on them than Kanye West in the oval office and he has no credence and no credibility in the black community on these issues.
BLITZER: We're going to focus on that right now, guys. Thank you very much. Don Lemon telling us how he really feels.
